Editing Betty Boop (section)

==History==

===Origins===
Betty Boop made her first appearance in the cartoon ''[[Dizzy Dishes]]'', released on August 9, 1930, the seventh installment in Fleischer's ''[[Talkartoon]]'' series. Inspired by a popular performing style, the character was originally created as an [[anthropomorphic]] [[poodle|French poodle]].<ref name=grim_early_years>[https://animationresources.org/biography-grim-natwick-in-new-york/ "Grim Natwick in New York&nbsp;– Part One: The Early Years"], an exhibit of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, a 501(c)3 museum and archive. (November 3, 2007) Quote: "</ref> [[Clara Bow]] is sometimes given credit as being the inspiration for Boop,<ref name="McGuire 1985">{{cite web |last=McGuire |first=Carolyn |title=Will Betty Boop Be A Hit As 'It?' |website=Chicago Tribune |date=1985-03-20 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/03/20/will-betty-boop-be-a-hit-as-it/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807121507/https://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-03-20/features/8501150965_1_betty-boop-voice-charlie-brown-specials |archive-date=August 7, 2011 |url-status=live |access-date=January 24, 2024 }}</ref> though Fleischer told his artists that he wanted a caricature of singer [[Helen Kane]].<ref name=grim_early_years/> Kane later sued Fleischer over the signature "Boop Oop a Doop" line.<ref name="Supreme Court Appellate Division 1936c">{{cite court |litigants=Helen Kane against Max Fleischer, Fleischer Studios, Inc., and Paramount Publix Corporation: CASE ON APPEAL |vol= |reporter= |opinion= |pinpoint= |court=[[New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division]], First Department |date=1936 |url={{GBurl |id=_lfli1cCqE8C |pg=RA1-PP29}} |quote= |postscript= }}</ref> Betty Boop appeared as a supporting character in ten cartoons as a [[flapper]] girl with more heart than brains. In individual cartoons, she was called "Nancy Lee" or "Nan McGrew"—derived from the [[Helen Kane]] film ''[[Dangerous Nan McGrew]]'' (1930)—usually serving as a girlfriend to studio star [[Bimbo (cartoon)|Bimbo]].

Within a year, Betty made the transition from an incidental human-canine breed to a completely human female character. While much credit has been given to Grim Natwick for helping to transform Max Fleischer's creation, her transition into the cute cartoon girl was also in part due to the work of [[Bernard Wolf]], Otto Feuer, [[Seymour Kneitel]], [[Roland Crandall|Roland "Doc" Crandall]], [[Willard Bowsky]], and [[Shamus Culhane|James "Shamus" Culhane]].{{sfn |Pointer |2017 |p=116}} By the release of ''[[Any Rags?|Any Rags]]'', Betty Boop was forever established as a human character. Her floppy poodle ears became hoop [[earrings]], and her black poodle nose became a girl's button-like nose.

Betty was first voiced by [[Margie Hines]]. Later, several different voice actresses performed the role, including Kate Wright, [[Bonnie Poe]], Ann Rothschild (also known as [[Little Ann Little]]), and especially [[Mae Questel]], who began voicing Betty Boop in ''[[Silly Scandals]]'' (1931), and continued with the role until 1939, returning nearly 50 years later in [[Disney's]] ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit]]'' (1988). Today, Betty is voiced by [[Cindy Robinson]] since 2015.<ref name="Cristi 2023">{{cite web |last=Cristi |first=A.A. |title=The Hidden History of BOOP! THE MUSICAL Animation Icon, Betty Boop! |website=BroadwayWorld.com |date=2023-11-27 |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/The-Hidden-History-of-BOOP-THE-MUSICAL-Animation-Icon-Betty-Boop-20231127 |access-date=2024-01-23}}</ref><ref name="Patrick 2016">{{cite web |last=Patrick |first=Neil |title=WATCH! Betty Boop Cartoon Banned For Drug Use 1934! ... |website=thevintagenews |date=2016-08-16 |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/08/16/watch-betty-boop-cartoon-banned-for-drug-use-1934-2/ |access-date=2024-01-23}}</ref><ref name="AnimeCons.com 2020">{{cite web |title=Cindy Robinson |website=AnimeCons.com |date=2020-07-03 |url=https://animecons.com/guests/bio/1141/cindy-robinson |access-date=2024-01-23}}</ref>

Although Betty's first name was assumed to have been established in the 1931 [[Screen Songs]] cartoon ''Betty Co-ed'', this "Betty" is a different character, which the official Betty Boop website describes as a "prototype" of Betty Boop. At least 12 Screen Songs cartoons featured Betty Boop or a similar character.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Betty Boop was the star of the ''Talkartoons'' by 1932 and was given her own series that same year, beginning with ''[[Stopping the Show]]''. From that point on, she was crowned "The Queen of the Animated Screen". The series was popular throughout the 1930s.

Since the character was created by an Austrian Jew and eventually voiced by a Jewish actress, Mae Questel, animation fans sometimes try to pinpoint various aspects that hint at Betty's Jewishness. The 1932 Talkartoon ''[[Minnie the Moocher (film)|Minnie the Moocher]]'' featured the only appearance of Betty's parents: a strict immigrant couple, who get upset that Betty does not want to eat the traditional German foods ''[[hasenpfeffer]]'' (rabbit stew) and ''[[sauerbraten]]''. [[Benjamin Ivry]] of ''[[The Forward|Forward]]'' says that any of this evidence is ambiguous, as these are not [[kosher]] foods, and the accents of the parents are comical German accents, rather than Jewish.<ref name="Ivry 2020">{{cite web |last=Ivry |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Ivry |title=On her 90th birthday, the Jewish origin story of Betty Boop |website=The Forward |date=2020-08-08 |url=https://forward.com/culture/450929/on-her-90th-birthday-the-jewish-origin-story-of-betty-boop/ |access-date=2024-01-24}}</ref>

Betty appeared in the first "Color Classic" cartoon ''[[Poor Cinderella]]'', her only theatrical color appearance in 1934. In the film, she was depicted with red hair as opposed to her typical black hair.

===Contemporary resurgence===
The Betty Boop films were revived after Paramount sold them for [[television syndication|syndication]] in 1955. UM&M and [[National Telefilm Associates]] were required to remove the original Paramount logo from the opening and closing, as well as any references to Paramount in the copyright line on the main titles. However, the mountain motif remains on some television prints, usually with a UM&M copyright line, while recent versions have circulated with the Paramount-Publix reference in cartoons from 1931.

The original Betty Boop cartoons were made in black and white. As new color cartoons made specifically for television began to appear in the 1960s, the original black-and-white cartoons were retired. Boop's film career had a revival with the release of ''The Betty Boop Scandals of 1974'', becoming a part of the post-1960s [[counterculture]]. NTA attempted to capitalize on this with a new syndication package, but because no market existed for cartoons in black and white, they sent them to South Korea, where the cartoons were hand-traced frame-by-frame in color, resulting in the degradation of the animation quality and timing. Unable to sell these to television largely because of the sloppy colorization, they assembled a number of the color cartoons in a [[compilation film|compilation feature]] titled ''[[Betty Boop for President]]'', to connect with the 1976 election, but it did not receive a theatrical release.

The release of the films on video cassette for home viewing created a new market for the films in their original form. The [[AMC (TV channel)|American Movie Classics]] cable television channel showcased a selection of the original black-and-white Betty Boop cartoons in the 1990s, which led to an eight-volume VHS and LV set, ''Betty Boop, the Definitive Collection''. Some of the nonpublic-domain ''Boop'' cartoons copyrighted by Republic successor Melange Pictures (Paramount Global's holding company that handles the Republic theatrical library) have been released by Olive Films under Paramount's license, while the [[Internet Archive]] hosts 22 Betty Boop cartoons that are [[public domain]].